The firm supplies knitted apparel to clients in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Spain, Netherlands and Britain, including to Littlewoods, one of Britain’s oldest retail brands, according to its website.

“Nine people were killed in the blast and one died in hospital,” fire service official Palash Chandra Modak said. The company said the plant was functioning well and the boiler had just been serviced.

“This was an accident. Everything was fine,” Mahiuddin Faruqui, company chairman and managing director told Reuters. “The boiler was running well. After servicing when workers were trying to restart it, it went off.”